Composite materials do not typically perform well when loaded out-of-plane. This is not a problem when the loading situation is well known or constant. However, when the loading situation is highly variable, composites can perform poorly.
There is increasing use of composite materials in aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's). UAV's are often provided with landing gear to facilitate landing, where the landing gear is connected to the composite material forming the UAV. When landing UAV's, they often land rough and are subject to high and variable loads. Since the landing gear is connected to the composite material, this can lead to failure, for example delamination, of the composite at or near the interface of the landing gear and the composite structure.
Thus, improvements in mounting landing gear of aircraft to composite structure of the aircraft is desirable.